And So it Continues...

We were at a friends house last night when McCain's latest, mindless piece of trash came on the air. You know, the one with Brittany and Paris. I was kind of surprised to see it, as I thought it was only a web ad. I started lamenting to my friend how I really, really thought this election would be different. I thought that McCain and Obama mutually wanted a positive, substantive, smear-free contest. My friend just looked at me and said, "but he can't win that way, people are dumb, so that's what works." At first, I just didn't want to accept my friend's simplistic and cynical analysis. But the more I think about it, considering all that hangs in the balance with this election, and considering all the talk about higher politics, it just makes the most sense. To win, McCain's gotta do what works, and the people he's trying to persuade buy into weak, substanceless, smear ads.

There's been much said and written about the continually dumber American electorate, and how it threatens our democracy. Calling a good chunk of the country dumb is often dismissed as elitist. But when politics are constantly boiled down to sound bites and slogans, and political ads consist of comparing a candidate to Brittany and Paris, that says something about the audience. Let's just hope we don't see a Hanoi Hilton veterans for truth.

And on a separate, but somewhat related note, this is why I TiVo The Daily Show: